The present invention relates to a small-sized liquid injector in a printing head in an ink-jet printer for delivering liquid such as ink, an ink-jet spray employing the liquid injector, and a method of manufacturing the liquid injector.
A conventional liquid injector includes a pressurizing-chamber-forming layer having pressurizing chambers provided therein, a pressurizing element on one side of the pressurizing-chamber-forming layer, and a substrate on the other side of the pressurizing-chamber-forming layer. Each the pressurizing chamber has a first opening provided directly on the substrate, a second opening provided directly on the pressurizing element, a liquid eject outlet which is opening to the outside, and a liquid feed inlet provided therein for feeding liquid into the pressurizing chamber. A pressure, upon being applied from the second opening by the pressurizing element, can be transmitted into the pressurizing chamber and eject the liquid from the liquid eject outlet to the outside of the pressurizing chamber.
In the conventional liquid injector, the pressurizing chamber, liquid eject outlet, and liquid feed inlet are formed in 3-dimensional shape with components made of ceramic material or stainless steel bonded one another. Since including the components element together, the liquid injector has a liquid eject outlet side thereof increased in area and can thus be hardly reduced in overall size.
A liquid injector which has a liquid eject outlet side thereof reduced in area is provided, thus contributing to a small-dimension ink-jet printer. The liquid injector includes: a head block including a first pressurizing-chamber-forming layer having a first pressurizing chamber formed therein for being filled with liquid, a first liquid eject outlet and a first liquid feed inlet through which the liquid is passed from the first pressurizing chamber; and a first actuator on the first pressurizing-chamber-forming layer for expanding and contracting an internal volume of the first pressurizing chamber. The first pressurizing chamber, the first liquid eject outlet, and the first liquid feed inlet are linearly aligned.